Roman East London

When the Romans finally settled in Britain for in was on the third attempt in 43AD under the emperor Claudius that they finally came to stay. They landed in Kent and made their way northwards.

Soon they reach a place called Londinium, this wasn't named by the invading Romans for it is thought to derive from the Celtic word 'lond' meaning wild. When they reach what probably the heart of what is now the modern london the historian Guy de la Bedoyere wrote ''they found nothing like a town, no settlement of tribal people.

They found a river valley that was tidal, swampy, marshy inlets around the river banks, a lot of forest and, in the distance, smoke rising from scattered native homesteads.'' it's possible that the settlements they were seeing were those of the bronze/iron settlements in the east.

With its wide tidal river  the Romans recognised Londinium as a perfect place for trading throughout their empire according to Tatitus who wrote ''Londinium was much frequented by a number of merchants and trading vessels'. 

To extend their ambition of a trading post the Romans built a bridge

across the Thames together with a large pier. The remains of which were discovered by archaeologists in the early 1980's. To their surprise it had stood just a short distance from where the present London bridge now stands.

The bridge was thought to have been built in the first century, but according to a recent discovery it may have been earlier.

In 60AD Boudicca first burnt down Colchester and St Albans then travelled on to London to do the same, in any of the remains of buildings that stood at the time the mark of the inferno can still be seen.

It seems however that Boudicca didn't just stop at  what is now the city

of London for a recent archaeology dig in Southwark has discovered the same mark of burning on the Roman remains there.

If there this was caused by Boudicca's followers it's more than possible that they use the already existing Roman bridge to cross the Thames which would mean it wasn't built in the 1st century as stated. It is also possible that the bridge discovered in the 1980's was the second bridge built after the first was destroyed by Boudicca.

After the destruction and slaughter was over Londinium was rebuilt bigger and better than before. For added security a wall encircling the city was built in 200BC. 

There were there were several gates in the wall leading to various parts of the country and it's thought the gate at Aldgate was built before the wall finished, and it was this gate that lead to the east end. The gate remained until it was demolished in 1761.

Romans built their cemeteries outside their cities so that is why archaeology in east London comprises mainly of graves and grave goods. It's also claimed that when Boudicca and her followers rode into London the came through east London and desecrated the graves they found there. As London grew over the centuries it spread out in all directions either demolishing or building over what had gone before.

During World War Two east London was badly hit and afterwards the need for rebuilding became a priority giving little thought to what lay beneath, however one site remained untouched.

Since the end of the war Prescot Street in Aldgate was left relatively alone mostly used for a car park. When the land was bought recently by Grange Hotels they gave permission for it to be excavated before being built on and among the many graves something beautiful and unique was found.  

At first it started like any of the other excavations but it soon became obvious that this was the grave of a person of importance, someone whose life, or at least in part, had been spent a few yards away on the other side of the wall in Londinium.

As the archaeologists began to uncover the contents of the grave they found what they were expecting, the cremation urn, an assortment of pottery and glass phials that once long ago had contained perfume, all pointed to their first decsion that this was the grave of a wealthy person and then they found something which confirmed it.

Buried at the bottom of the grave was a glass dish, something so unusual to find in Britain that it was treated with the utmost care to, but in spite of lifting it with the utmost care the realised it was only being held together by the earth that surrounded it.

Piecing it together was to be a long and patient process to be done by one of the most experienced conservators, Liz Goodman, at the Museum of London.The dish was made using the millefiori (a thousand flowers} method and the dish lived up to its name, tiny pieces of blue and white glass had been fused together to create magnificent work of craftmanship.

Not only was this find beautiful it was also very rare only one more such dish had been found and that was in Egypt, this was the only one of its kind found in the western empire.

Although this particular find caused quite a flurry in the press it was only one of hundreds graves dug there in the Roman period, then the cemetery would have covered a much larger site. The archaeologists only had access to a small part for over time the rest of what would have been the cemetery was built upon and  in almost continued occupation from the 17th century.

This wasn't the only unexpected find in a cemetery for in Spitalfields there was anothersurprising find. When excavating Spitalfields market the site offered up over 200 grave sites, and one very special one. To find an undamaged limestone from the fourth was rare enough but to find an equally undamaged and ornate lead coffin inside was unbelievable.

The lead coffin was decorated with scallop shells. In pagan beliefs of the time the scallop was often used in funerals as it was meant to depicted the departeds journey to the 'Isles of the Blessed'.   

Later the same symbol was adopted by Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land and is the symbol of StJames patron saint of Spain. St James was beheaded in the Holy Land in 44AD and afterwards his body. Later in Spain a wedding was taking place on the beach when a mysterious ship appeared a short way out in the sea.

This spooked a horse which was standing among the wedding party so much so that it ran into the sea only to appear a few minutes later covered in scallop shells and carrying the body of St James. Ever since the scallop shell has been the symbol of the saint.

I mention this because when the lead coffin was open it was found to contain the skeleton of a fourth century young woman, between twenty and twenty five with her left arm crossed over her chest in the Christian manner and whose DNA proved she came from Spain, possibly the Basque region. 

So was she someone whose family were edging their bets for thei daughter by giving her a Christian burial inside a coffin with pagan symbols, or were the scallop shells in keeping with her faith and in tribute to the patron saint of her homeland. Of course it's impossible to say one was or the other but as well as being a rare find it is also an interesting one. 

Whatever the faith of the young woman it was obvious, by the grave goods, that she came froma wealthy family. Her head was resting on a pillow of Bay leaves and the was an assortment of jewellery made of Jet, including hair ornaments, a small bos made of lignite and a glass phal that had contained perfume.

There were also scraps of material that had survived, she had been dressed in the finest silk with gold thread at the waist and wrists. Some woollen material had also survived but this wasn't thought to be the remains of a garment but possible a woollen blanket that had covered her or had been a cushion that had once held the Bay leaves.

As the skeleton was in such good condition it was possible to make a good likeness of how the young woman had looked like in life and it is seen here. It may seem like the area that is now east London was simply one great cemetery in Roman times and maybe that is right but there were other places that served a different purpose. 

Like all areas east London has it's markets and one that runs from Bethnal Green to Bow is called Roman road although in earlier times it was called Green Street. Whether this Roman roadway is yet to be verified although a few shards of Roman pottery have been found on the south side of the road, 

In 2005 a housing development was planned for the area in which evidence was discovered of a hypercourse and shards of high quality marble giving evidence of a high status Roman building.

Nearby is ancient trackway mention previously at Old Ford. It was here that the Romans improved to make it able to run from the Centre of

Londinium to Colchester the Essex town that was most prized by the Romans. The road was used food transpoting goods between the two cities. It could also have been used by Boudicca when she and her followers came to Londinium after she had put Colchester to the torch.

2013

During the excavation by Crossrail which is digging a new tunnel deep

beneath London workmen discovered twenty Roman skulls. The skulls were found beneath Liverpool Street Station.

Close by the site is the river Walbrook, one of Londons rivers that went underground centuries ago. It's thought the river may have washed the skulls downstream from a nearby Roman cemetery.

Another suggestion is that there were the remains of Boudicca's attack on the city. This was the conclusion of earier historians when they found Roman skulls in the

same area.

The Museum of London will examine the skulls over the coming few months and the findings.  

When finished Crossrail will run for seventy three miles across London that will link the city to Canary Wharf the West End and Heathrow to commuter areas of east and west London, so could be many more archeaological sites will probably be found.   

Roman rule of Britain lasted for 367 years when the legions were needed to prevent what they called 'barbarians' from invading their european empire, by 410AD all Roman troops had left Britain but the marks of its presence still exist today.